


thank god it was you

by lutzaussi



Series: red threads [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Established Relationship, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 02:40:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10675995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lutzaussi/pseuds/lutzaussi
Summary: Life with Kakashi is strange, but not bad. And, if anything, made weirder once Team Seven is truly formed and Kakashi has to take a goddamn step up.or: in which Iruka dispenses advice and is actually listened to, which isn't as rare as some think.





	thank god it was you

The day of team assignments dawned too goddamned early, in Iruka’s frank opinion. He was exhausted from all of the menial work involved in the process as well as being pulled into going to a bar the night before. Let it be said that the teachers of Konoha’s Academy knew how to get drunk probably faster than anyone else in the village.

The only small relief was that after assigning the teams he would be able to get some rest. He had two full weeks until school would resume, two weeks to plan out the next year and help around the mission room.

Two weeks of something akin to relaxation. Iruka could almost drool at the prospect, he hadn’t had a chance at all to relax since the fiasco with Mizuki and the injury that resulted. He climbed over Kakashi, who was trying to grab onto him despite spending most of the night already wrapped around him like a limpet, and struggled over to the dresser. As much as he wished to stay in their very warm, very comfortable bed, Iruka had to get ready for work.

By the time he was clean and dressed and making breakfast, Kakashi managed to ooze out of their bedroom. He’d gotten in even later than Iruka had the night before, returning from something that he refused to talk to Iruka about. Iruka just hoped it wasn’t something bad and left it at that.

It was quite the divide, to see Kakashi the barely with it human instead of the persona he projected for the world in general. It was somewhat endearing, in his unspoken opinion, for him to be one of the few who saw this side of Kakashi.

They ate breakfast in near silence, and Iruka had to once again extract himself from Kakashi’s leech-like grip in order to head to the Academy. One last day of work, and then he could rest.

-

After congratulating his students one last time as their teacher, he assigned them to their three-person teams. That was one of his favorite parts of teaching, sending his students on after they learned all they could from him, to learn more from others. All of them had already accomplished a lot, but their progress at the Academy was nothing compared to what they would learn under their Jounin teachers.

It did feel a little bittersweet, but Iruka was very practiced with focusing on the positives. And he didn’t have long to linger about it, anyway, as Hiruzen expected him for tea that afternoon.

-

“Good choices, all, if I do say so myself,” the Hokage mused, passing over the roster for Iruka to peruse. He wasn’t generally told until after assigning the teams who their Jounin teachers would be, assigning them numbers that their new teachers would then be assigned, and it was always sort of nerve-wracking to finally see who would be teaching his former students.

“Though,” Hiruzen busied himself with pouring them each a cup of tea, “I am worried a little about Kakashi’s prospective team.”

Iruka blinked at the man. He didn’t know that Kakashi would be testing a team this year, nobody had mentioned that to him, not even Kakashi. It wasn’t hard to find him on the roster though, and Iruka sighed when he saw the three names jotted in the column beside it.

“He got Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke?” Iruka asked. Hiruzen nodded, and that earned another sigh. It was too late to change the Jounin assignments and anyway, he had heard from Kakashi himself about the three Genin teams he already failed. Iruka couldn’t find a lot of hope for those three, with that knowledge.

But that wasn’t his problem, just as the kids weren’t his problem. He did have a very small amount of concern for Kakashi, if only because those three in combination were guaranteed to be a disaster, but considering Kakashi as well, the man sort of deserved that assignment.

-

He was at their apartment, reading, when Kakashi appeared. The man looked peeved as all hell. Kakashi didn’t even say anything, just stomped over, tugged his masked down, and collapsed on top of Iruka.

“Children,” Kakashi said, “are idiots.”

-

Iruka had promised in a very roundabout way to go drinking with Anko since he was free from work and she tended to drink any day of the week anyway. Once he was able to pry himself away from Kakashi (valiantly not laughing at the man’s complaints), he headed out to the bar they usually met at.

Anko was well into her cups upon his arrival, three bottles of sake empty around her, and at least three plates of edamame and yakitori that had been decimated.

“’ruka,” she called, slurring out the vowels, one hand holding up another bottle of sake. It splashed on her, and she jerked around to see where it had come from.

Iruka held back a snigger as he sat and allowed her to pour a cup for him.

“How’s life wi’ the dreamboat?” she slurred, nudging him with one elbow. When he turned to glare at her she leered. Not many people in Konoha knew him and Kakashi, and Anko had taken to referring to Kakashi with various over the top nicknames.

“Dreamy,” he said, as deadpan as possible.

She leered harder, if possible, and reeled him in with one floppy arm so their faces were all but pressed together before stage whispering, “How’sabout that sex?”

The only reason he didn’t kill her was because Genma and Raidou had wandered up, followed by a very hungover Suzume.

They accumulated more and more Chuunin and Jounin, spreading from the one table to the surrounding ones as well. Iruka didn’t drink much, still recovering from nearly being pickled the day before, but he had a good time. There were mission stories to tell, teaching stories to tell, and generally a raucous, fun time to be had while all of them were temporarily free from responsibility.

Kakashi appeared right around time that Iruka was ready to leave, as if through some feat of telepathy. Iruka’s face was a little warm from the closeness of those around him and also likely the sake, and the warmth blossomed to a full flush when Kakashi eyed him with his one smiling eye.

Iruka wasn’t really sure how they wound up in bed after that, wasn’t sure how he got back from the bar, but he found he didn’t really mind.

-

The next day was a day for sleeping in, at least until Kakashi off-handedly mentioned, while they were making breakfast, that he had told his new students that he was going to test them at dawn. Iruka initially had made an assenting noise, before he did a double-take and realized that it was nearly nine in the morning.

Kakashi had fled rather quickly with a bento in hand after that, and Iruka spent the rest of the day (at least until Kakashi returned) cleaning their apartment and catching up on some books he had been wanting to read. It was wonderful to not have to worry about grading or work things over the weekend, though admittedly it would have been better had Kakashi been there. That was unavoidable, though, and Iruka found part of himself hoping that the kids would pass and burden Kakashi for the foreseeable future.

-

“They did have teamwork, I’ll grant them that,” Kakashi said, somewhat vindictively as he unloaded the nearly empty bento boxes and began cleaning them.

“Your first Genin team, huzzah,” Iruka said, kissing him on the side of his head before going back to thinly slicing pork belly, “I would suggest celebrating, but it might be too early for that.”

Kakashi abandoned the bento and slid his hands over Iruka’s hips. In a very low purr he asked, “Well, don’t get ahead of yourself, dear, what did you have in mind?”

-

Iruka was back at the Academy the Monday after the pre-genin had graduated, working on lesson plans and cleaning. Kakashi was supposed to be training his children. He was supposed to, which Iruka figured was why he was following his string back to his classroom to find Kakashi hanging onto the window next to his desk looking panicked.

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” Kakashi said as an opening, when Iruka pushed the window open.

Iruka peered out the window to find some of the teachers and teaching assistants leaving for a break had stopped to stare up at them. He grabbed Kakashi by his vest and tugged him into the empty classroom. Kakashi perched on his desk still looking panicked, but maybe a little less so.

“Aren’t you supposed to be training your team?” Iruka asked, moving to the blackboard to wipe it off. He hadn’t cleaned at all after giving out team assignments.

“They’re eating lunch,” Kakashi said dismissively, but then his entire demeanor turned fairly desperate as he slipped off the desk and grabbed Iruka’s hands. “How the hell did you deal with them? Sakura won’t stop making googly eyes at Sasuke, and Naruto and Sasuke keep trying to kick each other’s asses! Sakura and Sasuke do a decent job of learning what I tell them, but Naruto just doesn’t!”

Iruka allowed himself one snort before he squeezed Kakashi’s hands and drew away to put together the papers he needed to work up class plans, “Naruto mostly learns by doing, show him how to do something, have him replicate it. Sakura has very fine chakra control, so she might benefit from more of that type of training. Sasuke—Sasuke needs to learn how to work on a team.” He paused, and narrowed his eyes at Kakashi, “Why can’t you figure this stuff out on your own?”

But Kakashi ignored the question, tugged his mask down to press a kiss on Iruka’s nose before pulling it back up, and headed away, out the window.

“You owe me!” Iruka called after him, a mix of annoyed and amused.

-

Despite his back hurting and generally being stiff and uncomfortable, Iruka remained on the couch, ostensibly working on his lesson plans. There were some things from the year before that he wanted to change, especially since Sarutobi Konohamaru promised to be a repeat of Naruto. He was on the couch right up until Kakashi got back, at which point he decided it was futile to continue to try, and really, he needed food anyway.

“How did it go?” he asked after Kakashi had tugged his mask down and given him a peck on the lips.

There was a grimace and a shrug as the answer, and Iruka found himself placed at their small kitchen table while Kakashi began dinner.

“Naruto and Sasuke are working on climbing trees,” Kakashi said after a few moments, once he had tempura and soba started, “I...don’t really know what to do with Sakura. She picked that up immediately.”

“Water?” Iruka suggested, considered, “If she gets really into it, you could start her on medical ninjutsu. She did express interest in it when I was teaching her.”

Kakashi shrugged, resumed cooking. Iruka just watched him, and felt suddenly, intensely thankful that of all the teams Kakashi could’ve got, he was stuck with Naruto and Sasuke and Sakura.

-

On Tuesday Kakashi showed up at the apartment vaguely around lunchtime, gratefully accepted food from Iruka, and asked, “Do you know anyone who would be willing to teach Sakura medical ninjutsu?”

-

Wednesday through Friday Kakashi did not meet his team on time because, in his exact words, Iruka “looked lonely.” Considering what followed those words Iruka didn’t really want to complain, but he also felt bad for the three newly-minted Genin who were doubtlessly expecting Kakashi to be on time. Saturday Kakashi trained them later in the day regardless, and Sunday they did not meet.

It felt almost strange, though, for Kakashi to suddenly be the one gone for long hours while Iruka puttered his time away at their apartment or the mission desk or Academy. Not that he was complaining; it was nice to have downtime, even if it was only a little.

-

Team 7 was on a mission their second week together, a D-rank that was probably just catching the same damn cat or pulling weeds. Iruka was pleasantly surprised to find them turning in their report while he was at the desk, and Naruto took that opportunity to nearly launch himself across the desk while simultaneously launching into a tirade against Kakashi and all of the D-ranks that they had been given. Iruka took the opportunity to be silently grateful that only he and Kakashi could see their soul-binding thread, because Naruto was unintentionally toeing a line with some of his comments.

Iruka did not direct his unimpressed glare at Naruto, instead choosing to level it at Kakashi, who grabbed Naruto by the collar of his jacket and dragged him back, setting him between Sakura and Sasuke, shocked into silence. Iruka was intensely thankful, and bestowed the smallest, most sincere smile he could on the other man without anyone else noticing.

Before they left (with another D-rank mission ahead of them) Naruto yelled to Iruka, “Oi, Iruka-sensei, did you wanna get Ichiraku tonight? Kakashi-sensei promised to pay ‘cause we’ve done so many missions already.”

Iruka had to force his face into something that was not an amused smile, asked, “Naruto, did you stop to ask Kakashi-sensei, since he is supposedly the one paying?”

Naruto whipped around to glare at Kakashi, who shrugged with one shoulder. Whatever. But then he fixed Iruka with what Iruka knew was a prize-winning grin and said, “How about it, Iruka-sensei?”

-

Naruto was occasionally sending somewhat suspicious looks in Iruka and Kakashi’s direction, but he very easily got pulled into some very quiet plotting with Sakura and Sasuke. Iruka ignored him anyway, because Kakashi was telling him about all of the missions they had taken and he was having trouble not dying of laughter or choking on his ramen.

They had already caught the cat, Tora, twice (and likely would do it many more times), had weeded three different gardens, moved construction debris from two houses, and walked Kakashi’s ninken once. The ninken story was the hardest one to stay unaffected during, because Iruka had met the dogs numerous times, and he could tell from the telling that they were intentionally extra ornery to the kids.

Iruka promised to take Naruto for ramen again over the next couple of days while Kakashi paid, and after asking Sakura about her training under one of the medic-nin who had time to spare, he waved the kids off. Kakashi slid a hand into his while they watched the kids walk away, talking and occasionally bickering before splitting off for home. When Naruto turned to wave goodbye again, and oogled their clasped hands, Iruka merely raised an eyebrow at the stunned boy, and let Kakashi body-flicker them back home.

-

Iruka woke early the day after his dinner with Team 7, nestled against Kakashi’s chest with the man’s nose buried in his loose hair, their red thread loose and waving around them.

“Naruto is going to kill me,” Kakashi whispered into his hair. After a pause he nuzzled Iruka’s head, amended, “Try to kill me.”

-

Kakashi returned, alive and with all his limbs and (Iruka assumed at this point) still sane after training his team. Dinner was cooking and Iruka was fixing up vegetables to go with when Kakashi’s arms twined around him, doing a fantastic job of impeding his movements. Not that Iruka particularly minded. He was mostly done anyway.

“I owe Naruto,” Kakashi paused in rubbing his face against Iruka’s neck, “five bowls of ramen. Wait, no, he upped it to seven after I made him and Sasuke start water walking.”

“Why?” Iruka asked, not particularly sure he wanted to know the answer.

“He said, and I quote, ‘you’re not good enough for Iruka-sensei’, so I bribed him,” Kakashi said.

It took a moment for the words to soak in, and then Iruka was chuckling and Kakashi began laughing as well, until they were holding each other and nearly breathless up against the kitchen counter.

“I understand why you like him,” Kakashi said once they were both a little more composed, “He’s a good kid, if somewhat misguided.”

“You’re misguided,” Iruka muttered, unable to stop a smile growing on his face. “Well, he is like family.” Kakashi looked a little hopeful at that, and Iruka’s smile grew as he continued, “But, you know, I’d have to say, Kakashi…”

“Ne, what?” Kakashi asked, after a full minute of near silence and Iruka grinning at him, beginning to get all fidgety.

Iruka cupped his face with both hands and pressed a warm kiss to his mouth. “I’d say you’re family, too.”


End file.
